Microsoft and Adobe squabble over PDF

Here's a fun issue to make the laywers richer...

Microsoft, Adobe squabble over PDF: "Microsoft is bracing for a legal battle in Europe with Adobe Systems, following a breakdown in negotiations last week over the use of Adobe's PDF technology in Microsoft's Office applications suite.
Microsoft, which last October announced it would support Adobe's PDF format in its upcoming Office upgrade, has reached an impasse after four months of talks, a Microsoft attorney said Friday. Adobe wants the software giant to remove the PDF 'save as' feature from its beta version of Office 2007 or to charge a fee for it, whereas Microsoft wants to offer that feature for free, said Dave Heiner, the deputy general counsel who oversees Microsoft's antitrust cases.

'The 'save as PDF' feature is the second most popular request we get from customers,' Heiner said, adding, 'Adobe has told the world that PDF is an open format...and (rival) products OpenOffice, WordPerfect Office and Apple (Computer's applications) already support PDF and tout it as a selling feature. Microsoft should be able to support PDF as well.'

Adobe has threatened to file an antitrust complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission if the software giant includes the PDF 'save as' feature in its Office 2007, Heiner added. "

What do you think about all this? If Adobe has made PDF an open format why shouldn't Microsoft offer a "Save As" feature?

Paul.
Paul Quirk